Olympic champion in 2012, world champion in 2009 and 2011, Daniel Gyurta (HUN) confirmed his status as king of his realm in a world textile best and championship record of 2:01.35, his dominant performance setting a pioneering standard for the boiling shoal battling in his wake for the minor spoils to aspire to. After the first 50m, Gyurta's 50m splits were the swiftest of any all the way to gold. On power, pacing and technique, the edge is with Gyurta.

Two thirds of the London 2012 podium repeated itself as Michael Jamieson (GBR), having scraped into the final in lane 8, clocked 2:03.00, a British record just 0.29sec ahead of his Britain and Bath teammate Andrew Willis (also inside previous national mark), the gap between them the difference between silver and 5th, 6th just 0.29sec further away, 7th another 0.1sec behind, the promise of a fabulous final fulfilled. Vlatcheslav Sinkevich (RUS) snatched the bronze from lane 7, world long-course record holder Akihiro Yamaguchi (JPN) locked out by 0.15sec.

The podium shuffled the all-time top 5 in textile with new entries at No1, 4 and 5. Gyurta holds the world record from a time of shiny suits at 2:00.67 in 2009.

As Gyurta's treasury grows apace, his personal life is blossoming too: he met a Hungarian beauty queen at London 2012 and fell in love with a girl who turn doug to be the daughter of the president of his country's Olympic committee. Silver medallist at Athens 2004 at 15, Gyurta finished 4th in 2008. His perseverance paid off big time, a model for all who feel the weight of disappointment but turn it to fuel for a brighter future.

Tonight Gyurta said: "Based on the heats I decided to push from the beginning. I did not want the race to be decided on the finish like during the (2012) Olympics. I wanted the race to be decided after the first 150m and I managed to do that, because the others could not take the pace."

He had good memories of the Turkish city. "I won the European title here (2009 Euro s/c) so I was really happy to come back and win the last gold missing in my collection.”